Reclaim the right

[pootie439]

For those of you who are not aware. Your banks have been unfairly charging for the pleasure of using their facilities. If you would like to reclaim all the unfair charges that your bank has made against you over the last six years then go here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewn ews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,
and follow the link to The Consumer Action Group. Read everything and then prepare for battle.

Good luck to you all

Pootie

[kempie]

I must be doing something wrong.

I have held (and still hold) various accounts within the UK banking industry, a financial relationship which spans more than three decades. I have yet to be charged, unfairly or otherwise, "for the pleasure of using their facilities".

[pootie439]

Hi Kempie
If you go and look at the site you will see that unlike yourself there are many thousand of us who have suffered these charges over the years. I only earn a pittance and making ends meet evey month can be tricky. It dosen't help matters when my bank charges me �35 when things go wrong even when they know I don't have the money to pay them
You are lucky enough not to have this problem but I bet if you ask a few of your mates you'd find some who do.
Pootie

[kempie]

You do not use a bank's facilities at their pleasure; you enter into a contract which lists both their responsibilities and yours.

By all means rant and do battle when they break their part of the contract, but I see no justification in someone complaining when they are charged a fee (to which they agreed upon opening the account) for breaching the conditions of the contract themselves.

[pootie439]

Contracts work both ways. when your bank charges you a punative fee of �35 for a transaction which has cost them nothing then that charge is outside of anything that you contracted to with your bank. If I lent you ten Quid until Wednesday and you could'nt pay it back on the day would you be happy if I asked for an extra �35 to cover my costs how happy would you be?
Just go look at the site and see whats really going on

[kempie]

The penalty fee is most definitely within the Terms & Conditions of the Agreement you signed when opening the account.

If you lent me �10 and I failed to pay it back at the agreed time I would pay any fee to which I agreed when borrowing your money. However, I would never have agreed to your terms of a potential �35 penalty to borrow �10 from you in the first place.

I have agreed to all manner of potential penalties from banks as a trade-off to them offering me many types of convenient and free financial services (in fact they pay me every year for these services) and it is my responsibility alone to ensure that I never breach the terms to which I have agreed which would trigger those penalty fees.

[dzug]

Be aware that banks have been known to close your account after successful completion of this process, particularly if you actually start legal proceedings.

[jennyp]

Its usually me who gets shot at on here about bank charges, I agree with you totally Pootie, but my site of choice was http://www.consumeractionactiongroup.co.uk. I have not paid any bank charges, At one time, I would have thought they were a thing to put up with for not looking after my financial affairs better, but I for one did not realise just how exhorbitant these charges are. It is really easy for someone to spiral into an ever increasing black hole with these charges. The CAG group is also brilliant for most legal, or financial item, with really quick responses for questions asked.

[pootie439]

Hi jennyp

Thanks for your input on this subject. Iam using the great facilities on the Consumer Action Group's site to persue a claim against my bank at the moment. I have looked around at all the services they have to offer but most of my concentration is currently centered around my own issue. Mayhap when I get my dosh back I'll be able to spend a bit more time there.
I know full well that for good peoplpe like yourself and Kempie the problem of bank charges may never raise it's head but for those of us with little enough of the readies as it is they can cause real worry.

Pootie

[jennyp]

How did you get on with your claim Pootie? My daughter got her money back 4 days after she put the letter into court. Nationwide then gave her 30 days to close her account.

[pootie439]

Hi jennyp

My claim is still on-going but I have taken the precaution of opening a new account elsewhere should my bank do the same as your daughters
I'll let you know how I get on

Pootie

[jennyp]

Thanks for replying I'm pleased you are claiming. Have you had any 'sod off' ' letters yet - if not, you'll certainly get some - the main thing is if you know that what they say is par for the course, you just stick to your timetable, and ignore their bullying tactics.

[pootie439]

Hi jennyp

No SO letters yet but the bank have 8 days befpre I send my LBA. We'll see what happens then but I suspect they will just follow form right up to the day they are due in court.
I see you've been giving hammerman some support, good on you.

Pootie

[jennyp]

My daughter put her letter into court on a Monday the money appeared in her account on the Thursday/Friday. We hadn't even managed to get a court date before they paid. You might be lucky and get your money as a nice Xmas present.

[jennyp]

Pootie how far have you got with your claim?

[pootie439]

Hi jennyp

Thanks for your interest. Sorry I haven't posted recently but I start a new job on Dec 20th and it involves moving house and home on top of which we ,( the band I play in ) have a huge corporate gig at cheltenham town hall on the 15th of Dec when I'm supposed to be moving so Iv'e been heavily immersed in logistics.
As for the claim. I got an offer of �1000 from my bank in full and final settlement c 25th Nov. My claim ammounts to over �3000 so the answer was obviously thanks but no thanks.
I have written back to suggest that if they are willing to settle at a higher figure, but still below my full claim, in order to save us all a lot of trouble and bearing in mind they can only lose, then I will accept that offer. As it happens they have until Monday to respond and then the LBA goes in.
I know it's all formality from here on but it all takes time and effort.
I'll probably be incommunicado for about 3 weeks from 16th Dec due to ISP change over and the like. I will post again as soon as I'm back on line. I'm here 'til next Friday

Pootie
PS no chance of that early xmas pressie

[pootie439]

Hi jennyp

Only me again

I forgot to mention that Declan Curry ( BBC morning news ) was, on Thursday morning, harassing a senior executive from the banking community. The question was, "how do you justify charging your customers as much as �35 when they exceed their overdraft or have insufficient funds to cover direct debits etc" The answer was that he couldn't give and answer because thay have no justification.

I suppose that this assault on the banks will mean that we will all end up paying a tenner amonth just to have an account but at least we will all be on a level playing field and we paupers will no longer be propping up the system for those who don't even know what a default on ones account is. ( see Kempie )

Why the hell couldn't they have done it this way from the start? It's going to cost them in the long run but I guess they will find a way to write it all off and come up smelling of roses. You can't stuff it under your mattress any more and they know it.

But like the Murphys I'm not bitter

Pootie

[jennyp]

Hi Pootie, I'm pleased you are getting your money back.. Its so wrong that people have had to go to these extremes to get their money back. I would think that as the snowball is well and truly rolling the banks are going to have do something before too long. Why should the fat cats getter richer by stamping people into the ground. It really doesn't take long for people to get into one hell of a mess with the exhobitant fees they charge. The thing was, they were getting greedier and greedier - and if they had left the charges reasonable no-one would have complained,
I hope your new job, and house move are going well. Have a good Christmas with your nearly recovered wealth

[jennyp]

It would be such a shame for you not to wait that little bit longer to get ALL your money back, after all, you thought you had already lost it .......just a thought, You will get it all.

[pootie439]

Hi jennyp

The deadline for a reply from my bank re my last letter was yesterday so some how this week I should get my LBA off to them. I suspect that it won't happen due to the current bedlam here so I will probably put 'em on hold until I get settled in at the new cottage. This means I will have the time to pursue them more thoroughly for the full amount anyway. I held out no hope that they would come back with a sensible offer because that's the way they still want to play the game at the moment>
I agree fully with your sentiments regarding thier situation and One would think that by now they would be desperateley trying to pay people back to retain at least some sort of dignity but then why should you worry about the little man's �3 Grand when you've got �30 billion.
On second thoughts the LBA will go out tomorrow as a little Christmas gift to them
Thanks for your continued interest jennyp

I'll keep you informed

Simon

[pootie439]

Jennyp

Got my act together and found time to do my LBA and a claim for the full amount. Now it's just wait and see time.

Simon AKA pootie439